Unwarranted Attack

I WON'T TRY to defend the Miss America pageant, because everyone is entitled to an opinion and nothing I would write would change that.

But I resent Howard Means' description of the judging panel for the Miss America pageant as ''made up mostly of deeply lecherous men and Cosmopolitan editors.''

My father, although not having judged the Miss America pageant itself, has judged just about as many Miss America local and state preliminaries as anyone, and served as executive director of the Miss New York state pageant for 10 years. Because my father is not here to defend himself or other judges, I have to say that Means' statement was an unwarranted, unfair and vicious attack. Going by my years of exposure to the pageant, his statement was also a falsehood.